April, 1920 



G I. E A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



213 



^ FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



or sluggish. These high prices are not going 

 to continue indeiinitoly, and when the pinch 

 comes those men who know the costs of 

 every step will know where to save and cur- 

 tail, where to make changes and improve. 



Do you want to know one of the reasons 

 the price of supplies began to advance 

 some years ago? According to the word of 

 one big manufacturer, they had just begun 

 to find out the 

 actual cost of 

 every separate 

 thing the y 

 made, and they 

 found that 

 s m e m a j r 

 things were be- 

 ing sold at a 

 loss. They had 

 put in cost ac- 

 counting sys- 

 tems. T h e s i> 

 a r e expensive 

 but not nearly 

 so costly as 

 losses. 



Our business 

 is a complex 

 one, made up 



of a multitude of details, and it will need the 

 combined thought of many of us to evolve 

 a workable plan of studying costs of all 

 dejiartments of our work and of keeping 

 subsequent track of them. But I believe 

 that it is very much worth our while; in 

 fact, I believe that we must do something 

 of the sort if we are to prosper. 



In actual apiary work there are many 

 leaks and many faulty practices, but just 

 how great the loss from them cannot be ac- 

 curately told until we have actual figures 

 to go by. As an illustration of a common 

 and serious leak, consider the non-productive 

 colonies to be found in most apiaries every 

 season. The outfit they occupy is rather 

 worse than idle capital, because it takes 

 costly labor to look after them and they 

 return little; or worse, they take from the 

 fields nectar which would do us more good 

 if put in the surplus chambers of other colo- 

 nies. 



Who will lead us out of this darkness of 

 ignorance? Arthur C. Miller. 



Providence, R. I. 



[If the reader will turn to page 163 of 

 the March, 1919, Gleanings, and also to 

 page 309 of the May issue, he will find that 

 Mr. Kindig offered beekeepers quite definite 

 and valuable help in determining the cost of 

 production. Evidently the beekeepers did 

 not realize their need along this line, for we 

 regret to say that only two replied. This 

 offer was far too important to be so readily 

 thrown aside. We certainly need such help. 

 —Editor.] 



A NORTH CAROLINA VIEWPOINT 



Defends Bee- and Queen-rearers. Considers Them 

 Fully as Honest as the Buyers 



About one bee journal out of two which 

 come to us readers has rather insinuating 

 remarks about the men who raise bees and 

 queens. Some gentlemen discover that they 



An apiary of box hives capable of holding 100 pounds of honey and bees, but which 

 Ml-. Slattery says have seldom been full. When he purchased these colonies he was 

 told that the bees would die since their owner had recently died. The bees are still 



alive, however. 



are not all honest; and other gentlemen, ac- 

 cording to their reports, make similar dis- 

 coveries. It is my opinion (and I have 

 bought enough queens to have the right to 

 an opinion) that there is more evidence of 

 ignorance as to the necessary elements in 

 successful business and a greater show of 

 greed on the part of the purchasers of bees 

 and queens than on the part of the breeders. 

 More than 99 per cent of the breeders with 

 whom I have done business have tried hard 

 to do a good, square business. It has not 

 always suited my convenience in every de- 

 tail, but there has been an effort to be 

 square in every case. 



Before I had been in the business long 

 I discovered that there were many queens 

 advertised that were so cheap I could not 

 afford them. Why should we who buy queen 

 bees expect that a universal law should be 

 set aside for us, and that we should get 

 something for nothing? When queens are 

 priced at a dollar each, the 60-cent queen 

 does not interest me. She used to do so. I 

 bought a few of that type, and then decided 

 that I would just pay for a good quality of 

 queens, and demand them. The man who 

 sells the cheapest cheap queen may be hon- 

 est in his intentions, and often is, no doubt; 

 but no man can succeed who has a cheap 

 conception of his business. One breeder ad- 

 vertises a cheap product; a dozen purchasers 

 bite, and want sympathy when they get a 

 bad taste in their mouths. It's their bite; 

 so let them chew till they learn how to bite. 



I have found a queen-breeder whose busi- 

 ness methods are faultless, and whose bees 

 are high grade. In the beginning of my bee- 



